Even if your business is not in the health care industry, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as updated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH...more

The Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) generally requires that large employers offer health coverage that meets certain requirements to their full-time employees (i.e., employees working 30 hours or more per week) and their...more

The Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) established limitations on the annual out-of-pocket costs that a health plan may impose on a participant. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor and the...more

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently published a set of questions and answers on its website providing additional guidance on ACA reporting obligations for employers. As we have written in previous alerts, these...more

Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been actively taking legal action against employers over wellness programs that it considers coercive under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), companies...more

For several years now, employers have spent a great deal of time focusing on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) play-or-pay mandate. Numerous articles have been written and numerous educational seminars have been given...more

On April 20, 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued a proposed rule to amend the regulations and interpretive guidance implementing Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) as it...more

On April 10, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction...more

Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) officially published proposed regulations that provide employers guidance on implementing wellness programs that comply with the Americans with Disabilities...more

Recent studies indicate that wellness programs significantly improve the health of workers. If only it were so easy to implement a wellness program . . .
As explained in our July 17, 2013 Benefits Update – Final...more

This week, Alaska’s Governor introduced Medicaid expansion bills in both the House and Senate after failing to get approval in his budget. Colorado determined that non-ACA-compliant plans cannot be sold in 2016, a year ahead...more

HHS ramps up for the final week of open enrollment. Families buying into CHIP in Pennsylvania are granted tax relief, and though Medicaid expansion efforts seem to have hit a wall in Tennessee and Wyoming, Arkansas assures...more

Justice Clarence Thomas and a unanimous US Supreme Court decided to vacate a Sixth Circuit decision and hold that the federal courts cannot assume from silence in a union’s collective bargain agreement that retiree group...more

Benefits provided through an employee assistance program (“EAP”) may be considered group health plan coverage, which would subject the EAP to the health care reform requirements mandated by HIPAA and the Health Care Reform...more

As we look into our crystal balls, we do not expect a lot of new issues in 2015. Rather, we believe that most of the significant issues will be a continuation of issues that arose in 2014 or earlier. ...more

The Departments of Labor, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”) have recently published final regulations related to when limited scope dental and vision benefits and employee assistance programs...more

With the holiday season underway, this week the Federal government awarded $110 million in exchange establishment grants, released proposed rules to permit employees to receive employer-sponsored insurance and tax credits,...more

For many employers, the effective date of the Affordable Care Act's "play-or-pay" mandate is only weeks away. The impending deadline comes amid questions about the future—and perhaps viability—of the law itself. Entering...more

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